For my choice I will be reading Beowulf. I've read the story back in high school, and the tale is exciting to me, which in turn helps me get interested in my choice!
Checkpoint 2
Summary:
The tale of Beowulf starts out with the introduction of King Hrothgar, of the Danes. Hrothgar, had a successful reign as king, and so it was decided that he would have a great mead hall built, in honor of his success. At this mead hall the men would drink, and sing the night away. One night a demon named Grendel, who was descended by Cain himself, traveled close to the Mead Hall. There, he heard of songs about the creation of life through god. This angered Grendel to terrorize the Mead hall for the next 12 years. Afterwards a great hero named Beowulf was called in to face the monster. Beowulf had decided to face the monster completely unarmed, because Grendel did not use any weapons to terrorize the Mead hall. The next night the battle ensued where Beowulf got the upper hand and ripped Grendel's arm off, forcing Grendel to run off close to his death. Following this Beowulf was rewarded in gold and treasures, and told of a great hero who slew a dragon. Beowulf hangs Grendel’s arm as a trophy and is then praised by the King and Queen. The next night Grendel’s mother sneaks into the mead hall, and take grendel's arm back while kidnapping Hrothgar’s advisor Aeschere. Beowulf is asked to go rescue Aeschere so he heads off with a few of his men to go fight Grendel's mom. When they arrive, Beowulf find’s Aescheres head lying there. He then decides to go swim below the lake where Grendel’s mother resides. After a day of swimming through murky water filled with sea beasts, he reaches the Lair. He tries to fight Grendel’s mother with a sword but quickly learns the sword can’t pierce her skin. He then tries to fight her using his bare hands, but she matches him up well. Finally he sees, a sword made from giants hanging on the wall. He grabs the sword and slices Grendel’s mothers head off. Beowulf then grabs Grendel’s head as a trophy and swims back up the lake. The Lake No longer resides any sea beasts. When they return, Beowulf hands over the head, and is again thanked, and given gold, treasures, and horses. There is another feast in honor of Beowulf, and King Hrothgar tells Beowulf, that he has united the Geats and the Danes through friendship and trust. Beowulf and his men then decide to travel back to Denmark. When they arrive Beowulf tells his story of his time in Hrothgar. Soon later Hygelac, the Geats King, dies, and the throne goes to Beowulf. He then rules over the Geats for the next fifty years. Soon after Beowulf learns of a dragon that has awoken to take back its stolen treasure. As an old man now, Beowulf is presumably weaker, and is now fully dressed in armor, and a sword to face the dragon with his men. As Beowulf fights the dragon, only Wiglaf stands beside Beowulf for the fight. Beowulf is soon bit in the neck by the dragon, and Wiglaf stabs the dragon in return. Beowulf then finishes the fight with a fatal stab to the dragons flank. As the dragon dies, Beowulf soon learns that the bite was poisonous and he too will die. He asks his men to bring the treasure to him, so he may die given the treasure. After he dies, the country remarks stories of the great warrior and leader, Beowulf.Article #1
Morey, Robert. “Beowulf’s Androgynous Heroism” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 95.4 (1996): 486-496. Web.
In Morey’s article, he discusses the elements between masculine and feminine traits in Beowulf. Morey believes Beowulf to be a highly dramatic masculine tale, yet the character Beowulf, is starting to become more feminine. He describes the woman in the tale to be forgoing peacemaker. While every time Beowulf slays a monster for the king, they essentially further their bond and trust, and Beowulf becomes more feminine as the “peacemaker”.
Article #2
Brown, S. Calvin. “Beowulf’s Arm-Lock” PMLA 55.3. (1940): 621-627. Web.
In Brown’s article, he discusses the awkward fight between Beowulf and Grendel. Brown thinks the fight is a bit unusual in the sense that it’s so mysterious. He comments on how up until they make contact, the direction of the fight seems, clear, and suddenly that all goes away. Brown then goes on to say that when the fight does ensue, it really is not a fight at all and just an arm-lock. Things get more confusing because the arm-lock starts to seem not humanly possible as Beowulf would have had to let go and grab on once again to ensue it worked.
Article #3
Chapman, L. Robert. “Alas, Poor Grendel” College English 17.6 (1956): 334-337. Web.
In this article, Chapman begins to discuss the sympathy the reader is supposed to feel for Grendel. Grendel and even Grendel’s mother are not out for malicious intent, when fighting Beowulf. Grendel does not fight back, he simply wants to escape Beowulf, while Grendel’s mother is out for revenge rather than pure evil intent.
Quote #1 “I consider myself no poorer in strength and battle-deeds than Grendel does himself; and so I will not kill him with a sword, put an end to his life, though I easily might; he knows no arts of war, no way to strike back, hack at my shield-boss, though he be brave in his wicked deeds; but tonight we two will forgo our swords, if he dare to seek out a war without weapons—and then let the wise Lord grant the judgment of glory, the holy God, to whichever hand seems proper to him.” (677-687)
In this quote, I would just have to say, it brings a more in depth look on how Beowulf perceives other people, and creatures in his environment. Beowulf is discussing how he does not want to use and weapons or armor because Grendel also does not use any weapons or armor. This can be taken in a few different ways. A more possible reason is because Beowulf wants to have a fair fight with Grendel. The idea of him using weapons may make Beowulf seem weak, to need to use weapons. In a sense Beowulf is also humanizing Grendel. For instance, Beowulf describes Grendel as a “he” and not as an “it”. Also he’s giving Grendel a fair chance to fight back.
This quote gives insight on what Beowulf believes in as a deity. It’s shown that he does believe in a holy god, and that this “god” has the answers and has already deemed who should win in this fight. This brings me to a point that Beowulf in a sense believes in destiny. Whichever the God has chosen is what is bound to happen. Now if we relate this to the entire tale at hand, Beowulf quite possibly uses destiny as a way to fight his battles, already thinking that they were bound to happen, and if he was meant to win, then he will.
Quotation #2
“Beowulf geared up in his warrior’s clothing, cared not for his life. The broad war shirt, woven by hand, cunningly made, had to test the mere-it knew well how to protect his bone-house so that a battle-grip might not hurt his breast nor an angry malicious clutch touch his life. The shining helmet protected his head, set to stir up the sea’s depths.” (1441-1449)
This quote creates a bit of confusion on how Beowulf may consider differences in gender. A few nights before this scene, Beowulf ended up slaying Grendel, with his bare hands. In this scene Beowulf decides to armor-up before Grendel’s mother. Beowulf has not aged greatly, and he was also not injured during his fight with Grendel. This indicates that Beowulf is not weaker at this point in time. Because we get no clarification on this matter, we can assume that Beowulf may be armoring up because he will be fighting a woman. This whole gender play against a man and a woman may be Beowulf’s reasoning because as we see, Grendel’s mother is also not described to have her own weapons.
Grendel’s mother does have talons, and with those talons she scooped up Hrothgar’s advisor. This may be a symbol towards scooping him into evil, or her own temptation. She is also said to be a direct descendant of Cain himself. This may be a hint towards what kind of darkness or temptation she carries around with her. As noted before, Beowulf believes in the holy “god”. Beowulf deciding to use armor for this battle could rightly be his own way of shielding his body from unholy temptations.
Quote #3
“But first they saw an even stranger creature, a loathsome serpent lying on the plain directly across from him; grim with his colors the fire-dragon was, and scorched with his flames.”
In this section, the dragon has been slain, and is now being found by the people. What’s truly haunting about this quote, is the transformation the dragon goes through. When it first rose from the cave, it was ferocious and gleaming, but now in death, it’s almost unrecognizable. The truth about death starts to inhabit the story, and how the life is literally seeping away from the creature. It’s own flames have now scorched its own body. This brings me to my point of how death is a reoccurring obstacle in the tale, and how age and death takes its course. For instance, when discussing Grendel he was a terrifying demon, but when slain, he became a lifeless soul, and his arm became a trophy. With Beowulf, he was first seen as a youthful strong hero, and as the years past, his strength departed and his body gave out.
Checkpoint # 3
## 1.Rogers, H. L. “Beowulf’s Three Great Fights”. The Review of English Studies. 6.24. (1955):339-355. 3 November 2014. Web In this article, the author explains, that there is a balance between the three fights and what weapons Beowulf uses to fight the monsters. He tries to explain how weapons are an ancient usage. They only weaken Beowulf’s presence. For instance in his first fight he uses no weapons, and he does perfectly fine. Shortly after he tries to use a sword against Grendel’s mother and the sword starts to melt. By the time he fights the dragons; he’s covered in armor and has his sword, but is still slain by the dragon. He tries to convince us that Beowulf’s strength is still there from when he faced the dragon, and that his weapons and armor actually slowed him down. The author goes on to explain, the identity of the weapons. He theorizes that the original creator of Beowulf was trying to explain that a man should not only trust in his treasures, weapons, and friends, because they can be fatal. They may break, betray, and leave you to die, if you are foolish enough.
2.Parks, Ward. “Prey Tell: How heroes perceive monsters in “Beowulf”. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 92.1 (1993): pp. 1-16. Web
In this article, the author goes into the fine lines between, Grendel and Beowulf’s fight. He starts to examine the scene as a way for Beowulf to humanize Grendel. Normally Grendel was depicted as a monster, a demon perhaps. The author uses an example of a lion pouncing on its prey, whenever Grendel decides to eat the Danish soldiers. Then he explains that Beowulf’s reasoning to fight Grendel one on one is humanizing Grendel to face his opponent rather than using them as prey.
3.Sisam, Kenneth “Beowulf’s fight with the dragon” The Review of English Studies. 9.34 (1958): pp. 129-140. Web (Article acquired from “How Heroes Perceive Monsters in Beowulf” sources)
Sisam describes the fight to be a random, interpretation of a heroic scene. We get very vague scenery for the dragon, but we get high amounts of description for the dragon’s cave. The author believes the fight, was forced almost in a way. For convenience, the dragon just sort of appears while all the equally capable materials Beowulf needs, also appears. Reflection: To be quite honest there really isn’t too much of a similarity between the three articles. I would say that the three authors do touch upon Beowulf’s use of weapons how this may bring up a problem with his opponents. Technically his usage forms a basis of where he stands in the story. In the beginning, Beowulf doesn’t need weapons. He’s strong, powerful, and makes the other men look non-triumphant when standing next to him. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel was his own way of standing man to man, against not another monster, but another soul. This is problematic as Beowulf is almost dependent on his weapons for the other two beasts. This brings up a question. Has Beowulf become weak with age? Then with Beowulf’s last to fights, he needs a great sword to do his bidding, and even at first the sword he originally planned on using, melted. This not only contradicts with Beowulf’s first fight but it also makes the weapons unreliable, as of next to Beowulf using strictly brute force. Is Beowulf’s strength all he really needs? His later fight with the dragon also comes up as an issue, for Beowulf is completely suited in armor and a sword. Still however, he has trouble slaying the dragon even with his weapons. This may dehumanize the last two monsters rather than Beowulf’s first fight with Grendel. Beowulf took great pride to wrestle Grendel man to man. The other two monsters were treated like beasts needing to be slayed.
Reflection After analyzing the three articles on Beowulf I began to be concerned with why there needed to be three monsters and what purpose did they serve in the epic. With Grendel, we were able to deduct Beowulf’s strength and how he fights with honor. For instance, Beowulf decided to use no weapons, against Grendel, because Grendel also did not use weapons. However, shortly after, Beowulf needs a weapon to slay the mother, and he needs an entire suit of armor, and a sword to slay the dragon. It has been noted that Beowulf has grown weaker through old age, yet this still doesn’t give good evidence as to why he uses the weapons in the first place. This almost makes Beowulf’s honor seem less justifiable. He no longer seems to be the legendary hero, who could take down Grendel, through fists alone. Although this does bring up a good idea that maybe this story is used to reference how even the legends how weak points. Realistically Beowulf would be weaker with age, yet his determination has not shrunk. He still fights off the monsters, and lays down his life for his people. From what I’m gathering, the story of Beowulf, is supposed to entail the realistic aspects of a legendary hero, and his struggle, to keep, his heroicness throughout his life.
Checkpoint #4
Annotated Bibliography #1
Biggs, Frederick. Beowulf’s Fight with the Nine Nicors. The Review of English Studies. New Series. Vol. 53 No. 211. (Aug, 2002):332-338. JSTOR. Web. 24 November 2014
The author’s points out in this journal, the fight between Grendel and the sea monsters. According to the author, it’s difficult to assume whether or not what Beowulf is saying is truthful or not. The changes in stories begin to show a weird dilemma on Beowulf’s part. The author seems to be implying that the slaying of the sea beasts may have been made up. It’s actually really fascinating, because the author does start to talk about how it is almost trash talking, to the Danes, and their dilemma with Grendel. I actually sort of agree with the comparison with Grendel, and Beowulf. They both were just enjoying their own events, before something came to upset them. For Beowulf, it was the sea monsters, and for Grendel, it was the Danes. Beowulf, killed the sea monsters, and Grendel, munched on the Danes. Now while this is quite a good comparison of the two, this also may show how Beowulf was just lying to keep his heroicness in check. Beowulf could not tell the people, what the two already knew, but what only Beowulf knew. I think it’s interesting that this can put Beowulf’s integrity into perspective. He may have been a hero, but he also may have been twisting the story around.
Culbert, Taylor. The Narrative Functions of Beowulf’s Swords. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan., 1960), 13-20. JSTOR. Web. 24 November 2014.
Culbert surprisingly makes a very adequate point revolving around Beowulf’s fights and the weapons he uses. Culbert establishes how the weapons during that heroic age were thought of as much more than just weapons. They even had their own names, and a reputation around their victories and defeats. Essentially the sword is a partner that the hero can team up with to defeat their enemy. Beowulf’s decision to not use his sword when fighting Grendel, is Beowulf’s claim for more honor, and fame. He’ll raise his status as a hero, because he did not have to use the mechanical use of a sword to defeat his opponent. Culbert then goes on to explain how the sword’s Beowulf uses for his next to fight, symbolize Beowulf’s own strength and the unreliability of the swords. It’s interesting to think about because this creates stress for the audience. When Beowulf’s sword breaks, it hints that he may not win this battle, and it won’t just be a sure thing. This also puts all of the pressure on the swords rather than Beowulf. If this is accurate, than the swords, failed Beowulf for breaking under pressure, rather than Beowulf losing to the monsters.
Norma, Kroll. ‘Beowulf’: The Hero as Keeper of Human Polity. Modern Philology. Vol.84 No.2 (Nov. 1986) 117-129. JSTOR. Web. 24, November 2014.
In Kroll’s Article he discusses Beowulf’s decision to be righteous rather than evil. In the poem, Cain is the evil, and Grendel is the descendant of Cain. Beowulf’s choice to go after Grendel and defeat this evil is his own choice to follows god’s way. Kroll goes on to say that there are many examples in which Beowulf makes seem righteous decisions. Helping Hrothgar, is an example of this because instead of burning down the mead hall, Beowulf protects it and saves the Danes.
Argument Against a Scholar In Culbert’s article, he brings up a valid point on why Beowulf did not use his armor or his sword, to fight off Grendel. He said that it was not because the sword would probably not pierce Grendel’s armored skin. It was because, if Beowulf did not use the weapons, then Beowulf would have received more fame and glory, because he did not need a valuable sword to help him in this situation. To also give Culbert credit, Beowulf did say that he wanted to receive as much fame as he could. For one, I greatly agree that Beowulf probably was not thinking about if it could pierce Grendel or not. Also this makes a great point with Culbert’s next idea, how the sword would begin to seem repetitive and mistrusting. If Beowulf always used the sword, and the sword almost always failed, it would weaken the effect of how we perceive that weapon, and how we also see Beowulf. However I take that fight, as a way to humanize Grendel. If Beowulf tried to slay Grendel with his sword, it would simply be displayed as a human vanquishing an evil beast. This way shows Beowulf’s true strength and that he does not need a sword, because he already has enough glory to equalize himself with Grendel.
Abstract of Journal Article
For my journal article, I’m going to try and delve into why Beowulf’s heroism is a continuous struggle, and how the story of Beowulf is to show Beowulf forcefully continue to keep his heroicness. Beowulf is first introduced to us as a great capitalized warrior, who is already revered to be known in many different countries even in that time period. He also starts out the poem, with a ferocious tale of why he lost a swimming contest, not because he was too slow, but because he conquered some sea beasts on the way. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, for an example shows Beowulf’s sense of honor as a hero. He doesn’t need any armor, or weapons. This gratification of his own strength is his own way to show his heroism. Beowulf doesn’t need to slay a monster. He needs to fight another man, one on one. This correlates with his next fight. Beowulf’s struggle with Grendel’s mother was a reference to his command to be a hero. Beowulf goes toe to toe, and yet he can’t even weaken the beast. Even his sword is unreliable. Instead of being able to fight her with only his fists, he has to use another sword and chop off head in a less fashionable manner. Beowulf’s final fight with the dragon seems to bring to attention his greatest challenge. He’s elderly, and slower than he once used to be. Now Beowulf has people to fight for rather than glory to attain. And as an elderly leader, he still fights for his people with the same strength he had in his youth. This would seem to be theoretically impossible but Beowulf has managed to hold on. The fight with the dragon changes the story of Beowulf. Beowulf does not run into the fight cautiously. He prepares with a full suite of armor, and men to fight with. These fights are Beowulf’s challenges for himself. They show his struggle to keep his honor, and his heroism.
- For my choice I will be reading Beowulf. I've read the story back in high school, and the tale is exciting to me, which in turn helps me get interested in my choice!
- Checkpoint 2
- Summary:
- Quote #1
- Quotation #2
- ## 1. Rogers, H. L. “Beowulf’s Three Great Fights”. The Review of English Studies. 6.24. (1955):339-355. 3 November 2014. Web
- Reflection
Checkpoint #4The tale of Beowulf starts out with the introduction of King Hrothgar, of the Danes. Hrothgar, had a successful reign as king, and so it was decided that he would have a great mead hall built, in honor of his success. At this mead hall the men would drink, and sing the night away. One night a demon named Grendel, who was descended by Cain himself, traveled close to the Mead Hall. There, he heard of songs about the creation of life through god. This angered Grendel to terrorize the Mead hall for the next 12 years. Afterwards a great hero named Beowulf was called in to face the monster. Beowulf had decided to face the monster completely unarmed, because Grendel did not use any weapons to terrorize the Mead hall. The next night the battle ensued where Beowulf got the upper hand and ripped Grendel's arm off, forcing Grendel to run off close to his death. Following this Beowulf was rewarded in gold and treasures, and told of a great hero who slew a dragon. Beowulf hangs Grendel’s arm as a trophy and is then praised by the King and Queen. The next night Grendel’s mother sneaks into the mead hall, and take grendel's arm back while kidnapping Hrothgar’s advisor Aeschere. Beowulf is asked to go rescue Aeschere so he heads off with a few of his men to go fight Grendel's mom. When they arrive, Beowulf find’s Aescheres head lying there. He then decides to go swim below the lake where Grendel’s mother resides. After a day of swimming through murky water filled with sea beasts, he reaches the Lair. He tries to fight Grendel’s mother with a sword but quickly learns the sword can’t pierce her skin. He then tries to fight her using his bare hands, but she matches him up well. Finally he sees, a sword made from giants hanging on the wall. He grabs the sword and slices Grendel’s mothers head off. Beowulf then grabs Grendel’s head as a trophy and swims back up the lake. The Lake No longer resides any sea beasts. When they return, Beowulf hands over the head, and is again thanked, and given gold, treasures, and horses. There is another feast in honor of Beowulf, and King Hrothgar tells Beowulf, that he has united the Geats and the Danes through friendship and trust. Beowulf and his men then decide to travel back to Denmark. When they arrive Beowulf tells his story of his time in Hrothgar. Soon later Hygelac, the Geats King, dies, and the throne goes to Beowulf. He then rules over the Geats for the next fifty years. Soon after Beowulf learns of a dragon that has awoken to take back its stolen treasure. As an old man now, Beowulf is presumably weaker, and is now fully dressed in armor, and a sword to face the dragon with his men. As Beowulf fights the dragon, only Wiglaf stands beside Beowulf for the fight. Beowulf is soon bit in the neck by the dragon, and Wiglaf stabs the dragon in return. Beowulf then finishes the fight with a fatal stab to the dragons flank. As the dragon dies, Beowulf soon learns that the bite was poisonous and he too will die. He asks his men to bring the treasure to him, so he may die given the treasure. After he dies, the country remarks stories of the great warrior and leader, Beowulf.Article #1
Morey, Robert. “Beowulf’s Androgynous Heroism” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 95.4 (1996): 486-496. Web.
In Morey’s article, he discusses the elements between masculine and feminine traits in Beowulf. Morey believes Beowulf to be a highly dramatic masculine tale, yet the character Beowulf, is starting to become more feminine. He describes the woman in the tale to be forgoing peacemaker. While every time Beowulf slays a monster for the king, they essentially further their bond and trust, and Beowulf becomes more feminine as the “peacemaker”.
Article #2
Brown, S. Calvin. “Beowulf’s Arm-Lock” PMLA 55.3. (1940): 621-627. Web.
In Brown’s article, he discusses the awkward fight between Beowulf and Grendel. Brown thinks the fight is a bit unusual in the sense that it’s so mysterious. He comments on how up until they make contact, the direction of the fight seems, clear, and suddenly that all goes away. Brown then goes on to say that when the fight does ensue, it really is not a fight at all and just an arm-lock. Things get more confusing because the arm-lock starts to seem not humanly possible as Beowulf would have had to let go and grab on once again to ensue it worked.
Article #3
Chapman, L. Robert. “Alas, Poor Grendel” College English 17.6 (1956): 334-337. Web.
In this article, Chapman begins to discuss the sympathy the reader is supposed to feel for Grendel. Grendel and even Grendel’s mother are not out for malicious intent, when fighting Beowulf. Grendel does not fight back, he simply wants to escape Beowulf, while Grendel’s mother is out for revenge rather than pure evil intent.
“I consider myself no poorer in strength and battle-deeds than Grendel does himself; and so I will not kill him with a sword, put an end to his life, though I easily might; he knows no arts of war, no way to strike back, hack at my shield-boss, though he be brave in his wicked deeds; but tonight we two will forgo our swords, if he dare to seek out a war without weapons—and then let the wise Lord grant the judgment of glory, the holy God, to whichever hand seems proper to him.” (677-687)
In this quote, I would just have to say, it brings a more in depth look on how Beowulf perceives other people, and creatures in his environment. Beowulf is discussing how he does not want to use and weapons or armor because Grendel also does not use any weapons or armor. This can be taken in a few different ways. A more possible reason is because Beowulf wants to have a fair fight with Grendel. The idea of him using weapons may make Beowulf seem weak, to need to use weapons. In a sense Beowulf is also humanizing Grendel. For instance, Beowulf describes Grendel as a “he” and not as an “it”. Also he’s giving Grendel a fair chance to fight back.
This quote gives insight on what Beowulf believes in as a deity. It’s shown that he does believe in a holy god, and that this “god” has the answers and has already deemed who should win in this fight. This brings me to a point that Beowulf in a sense believes in destiny. Whichever the God has chosen is what is bound to happen. Now if we relate this to the entire tale at hand, Beowulf quite possibly uses destiny as a way to fight his battles, already thinking that they were bound to happen, and if he was meant to win, then he will.
“Beowulf geared up in his warrior’s clothing, cared not for his life. The broad war shirt, woven by hand, cunningly made, had to test the mere-it knew well how to protect his bone-house so that a battle-grip might not hurt his breast nor an angry malicious clutch touch his life. The shining helmet protected his head, set to stir up the sea’s depths.” (1441-1449)
This quote creates a bit of confusion on how Beowulf may consider differences in gender. A few nights before this scene, Beowulf ended up slaying Grendel, with his bare hands. In this scene Beowulf decides to armor-up before Grendel’s mother. Beowulf has not aged greatly, and he was also not injured during his fight with Grendel. This indicates that Beowulf is not weaker at this point in time. Because we get no clarification on this matter, we can assume that Beowulf may be armoring up because he will be fighting a woman. This whole gender play against a man and a woman may be Beowulf’s reasoning because as we see, Grendel’s mother is also not described to have her own weapons.
Grendel’s mother does have talons, and with those talons she scooped up Hrothgar’s advisor. This may be a symbol towards scooping him into evil, or her own temptation. She is also said to be a direct descendant of Cain himself. This may be a hint towards what kind of darkness or temptation she carries around with her. As noted before, Beowulf believes in the holy “god”. Beowulf deciding to use armor for this battle could rightly be his own way of shielding his body from unholy temptations.
Quote #3
“But first they saw an even stranger creature, a loathsome serpent lying on the plain directly across from him; grim with his colors the fire-dragon was, and scorched with his flames.”
In this section, the dragon has been slain, and is now being found by the people. What’s truly haunting about this quote, is the transformation the dragon goes through. When it first rose from the cave, it was ferocious and gleaming, but now in death, it’s almost unrecognizable. The truth about death starts to inhabit the story, and how the life is literally seeping away from the creature. It’s own flames have now scorched its own body. This brings me to my point of how death is a reoccurring obstacle in the tale, and how age and death takes its course. For instance, when discussing Grendel he was a terrifying demon, but when slain, he became a lifeless soul, and his arm became a trophy. With Beowulf, he was first seen as a youthful strong hero, and as the years past, his strength departed and his body gave out.
Checkpoint # 3
In this article, the author explains, that there is a balance between the three fights and what weapons Beowulf uses to fight the monsters. He tries to explain how weapons are an ancient usage. They only weaken Beowulf’s presence. For instance in his first fight he uses no weapons, and he does perfectly fine. Shortly after he tries to use a sword against Grendel’s mother and the sword starts to melt. By the time he fights the dragons; he’s covered in armor and has his sword, but is still slain by the dragon. He tries to convince us that Beowulf’s strength is still there from when he faced the dragon, and that his weapons and armor actually slowed him down. The author goes on to explain, the identity of the weapons. He theorizes that the original creator of Beowulf was trying to explain that a man should not only trust in his treasures, weapons, and friends, because they can be fatal. They may break, betray, and leave you to die, if you are foolish enough.
- 2. Parks, Ward. “Prey Tell: How heroes perceive monsters in “Beowulf”. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 92.1 (1993): pp. 1-16. Web
In this article, the author goes into the fine lines between, Grendel and Beowulf’s fight. He starts to examine the scene as a way for Beowulf to humanize Grendel. Normally Grendel was depicted as a monster, a demon perhaps. The author uses an example of a lion pouncing on its prey, whenever Grendel decides to eat the Danish soldiers. Then he explains that Beowulf’s reasoning to fight Grendel one on one is humanizing Grendel to face his opponent rather than using them as prey.- 3. Sisam, Kenneth “Beowulf’s fight with the dragon” The Review of English Studies. 9.34 (1958): pp. 129-140. Web (Article acquired from “How Heroes Perceive Monsters in Beowulf” sources)
Sisam describes the fight to be a random, interpretation of a heroic scene. We get very vague scenery for the dragon, but we get high amounts of description for the dragon’s cave. The author believes the fight, was forced almost in a way. For convenience, the dragon just sort of appears while all the equally capable materials Beowulf needs, also appears.Reflection:
To be quite honest there really isn’t too much of a similarity between the three articles. I would say that the three authors do touch upon Beowulf’s use of weapons how this may bring up a problem with his opponents. Technically his usage forms a basis of where he stands in the story. In the beginning, Beowulf doesn’t need weapons. He’s strong, powerful, and makes the other men look non-triumphant when standing next to him. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel was his own way of standing man to man, against not another monster, but another soul. This is problematic as Beowulf is almost dependent on his weapons for the other two beasts. This brings up a question. Has Beowulf become weak with age? Then with Beowulf’s last to fights, he needs a great sword to do his bidding, and even at first the sword he originally planned on using, melted. This not only contradicts with Beowulf’s first fight but it also makes the weapons unreliable, as of next to Beowulf using strictly brute force. Is Beowulf’s strength all he really needs? His later fight with the dragon also comes up as an issue, for Beowulf is completely suited in armor and a sword. Still however, he has trouble slaying the dragon even with his weapons. This may dehumanize the last two monsters rather than Beowulf’s first fight with Grendel. Beowulf took great pride to wrestle Grendel man to man. The other two monsters were treated like beasts needing to be slayed.
After analyzing the three articles on Beowulf I began to be concerned with why there needed to be three monsters and what purpose did they serve in the epic. With Grendel, we were able to deduct Beowulf’s strength and how he fights with honor. For instance, Beowulf decided to use no weapons, against Grendel, because Grendel also did not use weapons. However, shortly after, Beowulf needs a weapon to slay the mother, and he needs an entire suit of armor, and a sword to slay the dragon. It has been noted that Beowulf has grown weaker through old age, yet this still doesn’t give good evidence as to why he uses the weapons in the first place. This almost makes Beowulf’s honor seem less justifiable. He no longer seems to be the legendary hero, who could take down Grendel, through fists alone. Although this does bring up a good idea that maybe this story is used to reference how even the legends how weak points. Realistically Beowulf would be weaker with age, yet his determination has not shrunk. He still fights off the monsters, and lays down his life for his people. From what I’m gathering, the story of Beowulf, is supposed to entail the realistic aspects of a legendary hero, and his struggle, to keep, his heroicness throughout his life.
Biggs, Frederick. Beowulf’s Fight with the Nine Nicors. The Review of English Studies. New Series. Vol. 53 No. 211. (Aug, 2002):332-338. JSTOR. Web. 24 November 2014
The author’s points out in this journal, the fight between Grendel and the sea monsters. According to the author, it’s difficult to assume whether or not what Beowulf is saying is truthful or not. The changes in stories begin to show a weird dilemma on Beowulf’s part. The author seems to be implying that the slaying of the sea beasts may have been made up. It’s actually really fascinating, because the author does start to talk about how it is almost trash talking, to the Danes, and their dilemma with Grendel. I actually sort of agree with the comparison with Grendel, and Beowulf. They both were just enjoying their own events, before something came to upset them. For Beowulf, it was the sea monsters, and for Grendel, it was the Danes. Beowulf, killed the sea monsters, and Grendel, munched on the Danes. Now while this is quite a good comparison of the two, this also may show how Beowulf was just lying to keep his heroicness in check. Beowulf could not tell the people, what the two already knew, but what only Beowulf knew. I think it’s interesting that this can put Beowulf’s integrity into perspective. He may have been a hero, but he also may have been twisting the story around.
In Culbert’s article, he brings up a valid point on why Beowulf did not use his armor or his sword, to fight off Grendel. He said that it was not because the sword would probably not pierce Grendel’s armored skin. It was because, if Beowulf did not use the weapons, then Beowulf would have received more fame and glory, because he did not need a valuable sword to help him in this situation. To also give Culbert credit, Beowulf did say that he wanted to receive as much fame as he could. For one, I greatly agree that Beowulf probably was not thinking about if it could pierce Grendel or not. Also this makes a great point with Culbert’s next idea, how the sword would begin to seem repetitive and mistrusting. If Beowulf always used the sword, and the sword almost always failed, it would weaken the effect of how we perceive that weapon, and how we also see Beowulf. However I take that fight, as a way to humanize Grendel. If Beowulf tried to slay Grendel with his sword, it would simply be displayed as a human vanquishing an evil beast. This way shows Beowulf’s true strength and that he does not need a sword, because he already has enough glory to equalize himself with Grendel.
For my journal article, I’m going to try and delve into why Beowulf’s heroism is a continuous struggle, and how the story of Beowulf is to show Beowulf forcefully continue to keep his heroicness. Beowulf is first introduced to us as a great capitalized warrior, who is already revered to be known in many different countries even in that time period. He also starts out the poem, with a ferocious tale of why he lost a swimming contest, not because he was too slow, but because he conquered some sea beasts on the way. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, for an example shows Beowulf’s sense of honor as a hero. He doesn’t need any armor, or weapons. This gratification of his own strength is his own way to show his heroism. Beowulf doesn’t need to slay a monster. He needs to fight another man, one on one. This correlates with his next fight. Beowulf’s struggle with Grendel’s mother was a reference to his command to be a hero. Beowulf goes toe to toe, and yet he can’t even weaken the beast. Even his sword is unreliable. Instead of being able to fight her with only his fists, he has to use another sword and chop off head in a less fashionable manner. Beowulf’s final fight with the dragon seems to bring to attention his greatest challenge. He’s elderly, and slower than he once used to be. Now Beowulf has people to fight for rather than glory to attain. And as an elderly leader, he still fights for his people with the same strength he had in his youth. This would seem to be theoretically impossible but Beowulf has managed to hold on. The fight with the dragon changes the story of Beowulf. Beowulf does not run into the fight cautiously. He prepares with a full suite of armor, and men to fight with. These fights are Beowulf’s challenges for himself. They show his struggle to keep his honor, and his heroism.